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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mr . Mulready , wtio is eighty , or thereabouts , has the privilege of furnishing Great Britain with delicately-conceived and cleverly-executed little pictures . His talent , which has neither fire nor inspiration , has resisted the action of age ; his hand is firm , his drawing correct : a habit of care and precision is one of those never lost . The picture which he has called " The Wolf and the Lamb" ( 893 ) is simply a little chef-d ' oeuvre . The frightened little lamb is very piteous and very comical ; the two-legged little wolf ( there are no others in England ) is laughably stiff ; his neck , his arms , his legs , his clothes are all stretched as if by machinery : one nick more , and his braces would break . The mother , who is coming to the rescue , is a capital bit of painting ; you cannot fail to notice her likeness to her son . The Queen of England has given proof of good taste in buying this little picture ; it is one of the best , most characteristicand most . English of the English school .
, " The Mark" ( 891 ) is of less general interest , but still more decidedly national . Two unmistakably English little peasants are playing at a game which France has not had the honour of inventing , whilst a youthful beauty is looking on . One takes up large , fleshy , English cherries , breaks off their stalks , a useless ornament , and throws them like balls into the other ' s mouth . " The Mark" saves his eyes as best he can , opens a wide mouth , and bears with heroism the blows which stray upon his nose and stain his cheeks . M . AJexandre Dumas describes an analogous game in his Impressions de Voyage . A tourist was boasting that he could hit any object , at the disstick American
tance of fifteen feet , with the point of his iron-tipped . An took the bet , and offered to serve as mark : the iron point entered his cheek . 3 ? br my part , I should prefer Mr . Mulready ' s game ; but the other , seen from a distance , has its charm . There is a relationship between the two games , as between the two nations ; Americans are but exaggerated Englishmen . Mr . Mulready delights in those innocent paintings which but slightly fatigue the artist , and give but slight emotions to the spectator . He likes to borrow his pictures from Goldsmith ; the resemblance between the painter and the writer is evident . " Choosing the Wedding Gown" ( 889 ) , and the " Discussion on the Principles of Doctor Whiston" ( 896 ) , would make two wonderful illustrations for a royal edition of the Vicar of
Wakefield . But Mr . Mulready ' s colouring is mediocre . His little pictures are truthful and speaking ; but " Ieur plumage ne se rapporte point a leur ramage . ' I have been assured that Mr . Mulready painted better in his youth . It is possible and even probable ; we have made the same remark with regard to the paintings of M . Ingres . It appears that painters , like hair , lose their colour as they grow old . In the four pictures I have mentioned , Mr . Mulready has only painted crimson faces . Pray why is this ? Granted that he has chosen his models among a people notorious for its health ; but let us make a distinction between health and apoplexy . I will not ensure those people another day's life if they are not bled at once . Send for Doctor Sangrado ; there is not a moment to lose .
Mr . Mulready has tried to correct himself . I see red , he said , let us change the glasses . His picture of " Bathers" ( 896 ) , painted a la cire , if I am not mistaken , is neither purple nor violet ; it is green and blue . His " Blacklieath Park , " which has a right to be green , is deplorably yellow . I know that the trees he tried to paint are the trees of his own country , but nature is less various than she is supposed to be , and trees with lemoncoloured foliage are only to be met with in Fairyland . For my part , I nevdr saw any in Windsor Park , nor even in the land where the lemons ripen . Mr . Mulready ' s colouring is not only fulse but crude . If he was painting en camaieu , it might be excused , but there is something harsh and discordant in his admirable little pictures . In order to think them harmonious , you must place them by the side of one of Mr . Maclise ' s pictures ( 883 , 884 ) .
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TWO PLAYS AT THE " FRANCAIS . " It is so much the custom in France , to see the names of two writers attached to the same dramatic performance , whether it be a vaudeville in one act and one scene , or a drama in five acts and twenty tableaux , that it becomes a fact worthy of remark , that two comedies , both new , and both clever , have been playing on the same night nt the Theatre Francais , one wholly and . solely under the responsibility of M . Mi ? Kr , the other under that of M . Leon Lay a . The system of colloboration , or joint authorship , is a curious one . Very often two or even more writers do really contribute to the same piece , one inventing the plot and sketching the situations , the other being intrusted with the dialogue ; one inventing the practical , and the other the verbal , wit . Still oftener , perhaps , the second name mentioned in the play-bill is that of the real author , who , because he is unknown to the public , requests the loan—not always gratuitous—of another person ' s celebrity . Very few , indeed , of the dramatic writers now known , have been able to work their way on without this kind of assistance .
The number of young aspirants for glory who have sheltered themselves under the broad wings of M . Alexandius JJumas , is immense ; but that gentleman generally prefers keeping them always in obscurity , and taking the lion ' s share of the fame acquired , if not of the profit . These facts arc bo well known , that young writers who have been rebuffed in every other direction , are ofton led to throw themselves into his arms , and it' they have any talent , public rumour Baya that they are always well recoived . " Fancy ' s fondness for the child it bears , " however , often leads persona to put themselves into strange attitudes before this mighty monopolist . Wo remember the case of an author—whose name w © charitably forget—who having produced a ponderous flve-nct tragedy , which was refused by every manager in 1 ' arls , at length determined to cull in the assistance of M . Alexandra Dumah . Strong in the belief of his own genius , however , he could not atoop to write the humble letter which it acorns is required , and did not even deign to forward his manuscript . Mo wrote simply to the effect that he had produced a dramatic work thai ; was certain to meet with groat
success ; but that the public and their agents were such fools that they could noi recognise talent unless it appeared under high patronage . " In these cases " \ 1 added , ** I believe it is usual to apply to you , and that it is usual also to offer yoS one half of the proceeds . Waiting an answer , I am , &c . " Shortly afterwards this blunt gentleman received a letter from M . Ai / exandre Dumas the Younger stating that his father was away from town , but had left him permission to open his letters . " I have therefore become acquainted , " he said , " with your g eherous offer ; I must beg , in my father ' s name , to decline it . My father— I know the fact better than anybody—claims the responsibility of the parentage both of all his literary works , and all his children . " This answer would have created shame or a smile in most persons , but the indignant author thought prop er to print it , and give an account of the whole transaction , as if he had been an injured man . He was determined , moreover , that his piece should be performed and having intercalated a violent tirade against M . Alexandre Dumas , hired the Theatre and the company of Montmartre , and succeeded in having hj 9 tragedy damned , and in obtaining a lodging within the walls of Clichy .
M . Mert , then , is the sole author of the Essai du Mariage , a little piece sufficiently absurd and fantastical in design , but full of wit , good writing , and agreeable situations . It is laid in England , and for a wonder contains no remarkable geographical blunders , and no shocking mistakes about our manners and character . In fact , there is no attempt made at delineating national manners or character at alL The scene , though nominally near Birmingham , exists n owh ere but in the realms of fancy . The action is an epigram worked out by means of a variety of small incidents . A M . de Lacy , of Parisian origin , and a young English widow named Lavinia , have taken up their residence in a country house , where they occupy two pavilions , separated by the whole breadth of the stag e , and pass their time in studying each other ' s character us a preliminary to marriage . Making concessions to public opinion , however , they pretend to be already man and wife—a pretence which is seen through by a prying man-servant and an inquisitive soubrette , Vincent and Clotilde , who , on the other hand .
are really married , and pretend not to be so . The young widow , played very gracefully by Madame Denain—whose English dress , however , is somewhat too decollete—h&& drawn up a treaty full of elaborate stipulations , the slightest infraction of which is to deprive her suitor of all prospect of obtaining her hand . The essai , indeed , is entirely on her side . M . deLacy has quite made up his mind , and after six months of trial under the provoking circumstances we have hinted at , is naturally more impassioned than ever . We find him in disgrace . He has committed a heinous fault . In the midst of a tender conversation he has actually presumed to turn aside to admire the beauty of a magnificent oak . Lavinia is jealous even of a tree , and is pacified with some difficulty . But her theory is , that if a lady may be jealous , her lover must not presume to be so . Annoyed at seeing M . de Lacy receive a letter without giving an explanation of
its contents , she contrives to receive another , and raises her victim s suspicions and anger up to the boiling point . The denunciations of his valet , and various other suspicious circumstances , at length convince the lover that he is made a tool of . The lady reads O thello in his presence , and M . Maillard , who plays the part with great animation , has the opportunity of a fine sceni-tragic movement . Madame Lavinia , however , knows her power ; she makes an eloquent speech on the danger of trusting to appearances , warns her aspirant husband that all through life he will be in danger of being made miserable by his own ingenuity , unless he sets out with absolute confidence , brings him to her feet , explains everything , and becomes his wife . As we have said , all this is mere phantasy , scarcely within the limits of genuine comedy , but it is well written and well acted . Monrose makes a capital part of the valet , and Madlle . Valerie , as usual , is
agreeably saucy . Les Jeunes Gens , by Leon Laya , is on a much larger scale , but is not quite so skilfully constructed . The rich uncle from the Indies has become quite a bore , in modern French pieces especially , as he is now no longer crusty and odd , but a perfect magazine of moral sentences and chivalrous sentiments . This introduction in the first act of a comedy , instead of in the last , according to the old rule , was a dangerous experiment ; but as soon as we became accustomed to look upon iiim in a serious light , we were obliged to admit that he was made good use of . There is much pathos—an element now indispensable iu French comediesin the scene between him and his nephew , both before and after their recognition . Indeed the first act is so good and elective , that the others barely sustain the interest excited . The fundamental idea of the play is , that rich fathers of the mercantile class are too apt , in endeavouring- to keep their sons from bad habits and bad company , either to stupify , or make them dissimulate , by almost entirely depriving them of funds . M . Ritjand ( Anselme ) is a father ot this class . He is extremely wealthy , and has brought up Francisque in habits ot luxury . He gives him the use of his carriage , and pays his tailor ' s bill , but only allows him three hundred francs a month for his menus plaisirs . Tlie
consequence is , that the young man gets into debt and all manner of scrapes , and is at length sent off in disgrace to rusticate as a banker ' s clerk at Bordeaux . We author has missed several dramatic scenes in the career of this youth , ' who nndB it necessary to deceive his father , but being a good fellow at bottom , come 3 m at the end to confess his fault , point the moral of the piece , and serve as a contrast to the real hero—we mean the elegant one who is in love with M . luyanus / laughter . Max ( Delaunay ) is the nephew of the aforesaid Indian uncle , who supplies him with ample money to spend , on two conditions ; first , that no shall continue to study the arts ; and second , that , if ever he commits any faults , he shall at once frankly confess them . We expected to follow him as well aa Francisque through some of his trials . A very effective scene might have been that in wiucn
introduced before the spectator , but it is only related—wo moan Max is saved from the clutches of an actress by the interference of his uncie . Hut this did not enter into tho plan of the author , who is satisfied with presenting us with tho premises of the thing in tho first act , and with the conclusion in the second and third . In construction , therefore , the piece is deficient , audit is only sustained by tho brilliance of separate scenes , the strength of the wntino , and the excellence of the acting . Got , always n favourite with the audience oi tho Thkathe Fiian ^ ais , makes tho character of Francisque by far tho most proininont , and in the last scene , by a mixture of humour and feeling , cloveny managed by tho author , succeeds in eliciting rapturous applause . ino character of Antoinette is so slightly sketched as to bo insignificant , and is oniy mado anything of by tho graceful gestures and pretty face of Madame Pubois .
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MONTI'S LECTURES ON SCULPTURE . Sionoii Monti ' s fourth lecture , on Wednesday lust , resumed and concluded Ins examination of Ancient Art . Ho took up the subject from the first pmuco demotiti , or national sculpture , when the creations of tho groat artists lully rL'l ° " eontod tlio noblest epoch of Greek thought ; and !> y a sorios of illustrations <» tllu second and inferior phase , ho succeeded in showing how tho more luxuriant , on
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1855, page 608, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2096/page/20/
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